News & Events

The American Statistical Association features UW Grad Xihong Lin, Ph.D., ’94, current chair and Henry Pickering Walcot Professor of the department of biostatistics at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and UW associate professor of biostatistics and statistics, Daniela Witten, Ph.D., in its article celebrating Women in History Month.

Adam Szpiro, associate professor of biostatistics at the University of Washington School of Public Health, has received a $110,176 grant from the Environmental Defense Fund, Inc. to produce fine-scale maps at an hourly time scale of ambient black carbon levels across West Oakland, California.

Danliela Witten, UW Associate Professor of Biostatistics and Statistics, comments on black box machine learning on PBS NOVA (50:24): “These are algorithms that can have a big effect on people’s lives and we have to understand as a society what is going into those algorithms and what they’re based on in order to make sure they’re not perpetuating social problems that we already have.”

A new study published earlier this month in PLOS Pathogens has pinpointed genetic variants that markedly increase HIV infection risk among people exposed to the virus. Mary Emond, co-senior author and primary analyst of the study and research associate professor of biostatistics in the UW Department of Biostatistics is quoted.

How are UW faculty in biostatistics working to prevent the spread of HIV? This article highlights Thomas Fleming's role in two new large-scale trials of a long-acting injectable drug for HIV prevention, and illuminates the integral role the biostatistician plays on a research team. Other UW faculty members in biostatistics actively involved in leading research for preventing the spread of HIV are also highlighted including: James Hughes, Peter Gilbert, Barbra Richardson and Ying Chen.

Several faculty members of the School's Department of Biostatistics are actively involved in leading the research for preventing the spread of HIV, including James Hughes, Peter Gilbert and Barbra Richardson.

Dr. Thomas Fleming, a UW faculty member in biostatistics, is involved in two large clinical trials engaging more than 6,000 people at high risk for acquiring HIV infection. The trials are aimed at determining whether an injectable medication, given only about every eight weeks, has effectiveness in reducing the risk of HIV infection that is similar or superior to that of a daily antiretroviral pill known as Truvada.

Bruce Weir, professor of biostatistics at the University of Washington School of Public Health, has received a four-year, $1.6 million award from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences to develop new statistical methods to describe the genetic structure of populations in a way that encompasses their evolutionary history.

Patrick Heagerty, chair and professor of the Department of Biostatistics, has received $2.8 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to lead the data coordinating center for a study of non-drug approaches for preventing chronic low back pain, which could lead to reduced opioid use.